Talking Baseball

The Atlanta Braves, one of three teams in the NL East interested in Derek Lowe, signed the free agent to a four year contract on Tuesday.

The contract will put Lowe in a Braves uniform through the 2012 season and is worth a reported $60 million.

Lowe went 14-11 with a 3.24 ERA for the Dodgers in 2008 and was 6-1 with a 1.27 ERA in his final 10 starts of the regular season.

He has pitched for the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers during his career.

With Lowe now on board the Braves rotation will also have Javier Vazquez, Jair Jurrjens and recently signed Kenshin Kawakami to fill spots 1 through 4.

The fifth spot will be a battle between James Parr, Tommy Hanson, Jo-Jo Reyes, Charlie Morton and quite possible Tom Glavine.

The Baltimore Orioles and free agent catcher Gregg Zaun are close to agreeing to a one year contract that would bring the free agent to Baltimore for the 2009 season.

With Ivan Rodriguez still on the market, the Orioles instead decided to sign a catcher that hit .237 in 86 games with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2008.

Rodriguez is pretty much headed for the Hall of Fame and has 295 career homeruns and 1,217 RBIs in his career.

Zaun began his career in the Majors with the Orioles in 1995. Earlier in this off-season the Orioles signed free agent catcher Chad Moeller to a contract.

These two catchers will hold the position until prospect Matt Wieters is ready to take over on a full-time basis.

The Boston Red Sox have added another arm to their pitching staff by signing former Los Angeles Dodgers closer Takashi Saito to a one year contract with an option for 2010.

Saito joins outfielder Rocco Baldelli and right handed pitchers Brad Penny and John Smoltz as the newest members of the Red Sox for 2009.

Saito spent three seasons with the Dodgers and saved 81 games in 91 opportunities. He has a 1.95 career ERA in 180 relief appearances. He is 12-7 in the Majors.

The Red Sox are not sitting on their laurels since winning the 2007 World Series and being ousted from the playoffs in 2008 by the Tampa Bay Rays in seven games in the ALCS.

Saito joins Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima, Justin Masterson, Manny Delcarmen, Ramon Martinez and Javier Lopez in the Sox bullpen.